Malapascua Island

Ivan, Jennifer and I checked out of Paragon Suites on February 19, 2009. We had the front desk reserve a private taxi for us. We wanted to go to Maya. From there, we would take a boat ride to Malapascua Island.

The cost for the taxi was 3000 Pesos. We loaded up our backpacks into the trunk of the taxi. We asked the driver to stop for lunch first. We drove down the street at Sideline.

Ivan ordered a bbq tuna while Jennifer got bbq chicken. I got two bbq bananas. The food turned out good.

We stopped at an ATM to get money. There are no ATMs on Malapascua Island. The car ride would be about 3 hours long. We all watched part of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban during our long ride.

We arrived in Maya. The men there said we could take a private boat for 1200 Pesos. Otherwise, we’d have to wait longer while other people arrived.

Nobody else came. We hopped on the boat. There was a passenger on the boat who was real friendly. Ivan asked him if 3000 Pesos was too much for a trip to Maya from Cebu City. He said since the price of fuel is low, it should have been 2500 Pesos. The 30 minute boat ride went smoothly.

Our boat took us directly to our hotel, Blue Water Malapascua Beach Resort.

We walked to our room and put our backpacks into the room. The room is a big room with a double bed. There’s air-conditioning, but no hot water. It’s okay about the water since the weather is usually hot and humid in the Philippines.

We walked to the Blue Corals Bar for sunset. Ivan got a beer while Jennifer got a Mai Tai. I ordered a banana juice – which came a little yellow umbrella.

The sunset was really pretty. We chatted for a few minutes and then went back to the hotel.

We took a short walk down the beach to Sunsplash. There’s a place to eat on the beach. But, since it was so late, that area was now closed. We sat down to look at the menu. Ivan ordered the house specialty, the chicken fajitas. Jennifer got the sizzling chicken. I ordered the chicken and banana adobo. Ivan thought the fajitas were amazing. The fajitas come with a garlic sauce and tomatoes and onions. Jennifer and I thought our food was good.

We had free breakfast at the resort on February 20, 2009. Ivan and Jennifer got the corned flakes with mango. I had two pancakes with banana slices. It turned out real good.

We boarded a boat. Ivan set up a trip with Michael to go snorkeling today. Michael is a local who runs snorkeling tours. Our first stop was an island only about 5 minutes away.

The waves were choppy right near the island. Jennifer hasn’t really swam around in water like that. She did have her life jacket on – so it was easy to swim around. I didn’t want to float on a life vest since the waves would probably throw me into the water. I was reading my Lonely Monkey book to see if there was any good banana stands on the island. Ivan and Jennifer went snorkeling. There was coral and some small fish underwater.

We went to the other side of Malapascua Island. There’s a sunken Japanese warship from World War II located in the water.

Ivan and Jennifer went snorkeling to see the ship. Jennifer said the ship was broken up. It wasn’t a really big ship. There was coral growing on part of the remains of the ship. Our guide said there was skeletons. Ivan and Jennifer didn’t see any though. I floated on a life vest since the water was nice and calm. It was great floating around while eating a sweet banana.

Our last stop was only a few minutes away. It was an area called Garden Coral. Jennifer thought there was plenty of beautiful coral found here. They saw small and big fish. We stayed at this area for awhile. We all climbed back on board. Michael took us back to the Blue Water.

We walked to Ging Ging’s Flower Garden. We were all pretty hungry. I ordered a banana and chocolate pancake. Ivan got the sizzling fish while Jennifer got the sizzling chicken.

We thought the food was really nice. The only bad part was all the flies that kept landing on our table and our bodies.

Ivan read his book on a lounge chair. Jennifer and I worked on the blog. Jennifer always helps out with all the details. I forget sometimes.

We walked to the Malapascua Island Exotic Dive & Beach Resort. It was happy hour – so Ivan and Jennifer ordered two Exotic Specials.

Jen was really thirsty!

Since it was happy hour, it was Buy One, Get one Free. Ivan and Jen wanted one each but the server gave them two each. I got a lovely Banana Daiqurri – unfortunately, without alcohol. We wanted to see the sunset. It was too cloudy for a good sunset though.

We walked down to Sunsplash. Ivan and Jennifer got the chicken fajitas. I ordered a banana pizza.

Jennifer thought these were the best chicken fajitas she’s ever had. My pizza was quite tasty, but not my dad’s secret recipe is better.

Ivan heard about the local festival that was happening at the church. We walked there and arrived about 9:15 pm. There was lots of locals dancing. The admission price is 50 Pesos for each person. Monkeys are free. The event was only selling beer, vodka and rum. Michael saw us and stopped to say hello. He said it would probably pick up around 10 pm. Ivan decided we should walk back to the resort. I was too tired and went to bed.

Ivan and Jennifer watched a few episodes of Nighty Night. They were too tired to head back to the festival. So, they went to sleep.